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I’ve always been consciously green and frugal but it really amazed me just how much more energy efficient my home (and even my life) became after my divorce. I truly have a MUCH greener home now! I had assumed my bills would go down by around half as there was two people living here and now there’s only one. Across the board every energy bill in my home went down by at least 2/3rds and some down by 3/4s! I couldn’t believe it when I got my first electric bill!

It is more than that too though. Being in a relationship with someone that didn’t share my green or sustainable living beliefs was an absolute exhaustion for me and I’m sure a lot of folks out there can relate.

I did what I could then but any step toward frugality, healthier living or sustainability and conservation was entirely on my shoulders and was a constant fight along the way.

Truly though, it doesn’t take much to move toward a greener home and every step I took actually saved me money. Most changes require absolutely no extra effort or change of lifestyle – usually its just the habit of turning a light switch off instead of leaving it on as you walk out the door.

I used to have at least one room of lights on at all times at night. Now I keep a lamp on unless I need the overhead lights for task lighting. That alone saved me a bundle, instead of at least 5 bulbs on per room now I only had one on and I switched it out for an LED bulb as well.

That’s probably the easiest way to move toward a greener home – when a bulb burns out replace it with an LED bulb instead. They last longer and they are better for the environment.

With a darker room now I was even able to turn the brightness down on my TV, my computer monitor and my phone all of which save my eyes from screen fatigue and save me money on energy.

The following is an article contributed to Grandma’s House DIY that I felt was really informative.

The amount of money we waste each year on our homes because of energy and water bills is just so bad. We’re literally throwing money away, when we could be making it so much easier for ourselves.

There are so many little ways that you can make your home greener, you just need to put your mind to it and make it happen. Making your home greener is obviously going to save you those vital pennies each month, and we’ve got a few simple ways that we think you can do it.

Although not all of these will apply to you, we’re sure you can take a few away with you, and hopefully we can contribute to making your home a little bit greener.

Click for image source and copyright.

Are You Letting Heat Out

If there’s one thing we’re all bad at as soon as it even gets slightly cold, it’s putting the heating on. There’s nothing better than walking into a home that’s snug as a bug, and that’s what whacking the heating up does. But, could your home be warmer?

We think so.

A lot of people have cold air seeping in through their windows, or don’t have the right windows at all. What this leads to is a house that’s a lot colder than it needs to be, meaning you’re going to have your heating up a lot higher than it needs to be.

So, check out some of the top rated windows, and see if any of them are within your price range. Even if you just had half of the house redone, we guarantee you would save so much money come the winter time.

You’ll find that your home is a lot more naturally insulated by the warmth of the sun, and the warmth of the home, rather than having to put the heating on all of the time.

Think about all of those showers that you love to spend half an hour in. Think of all that running water that you leave on when you’re brushing your teeth, or washing the dishes.

Think of all the loads of washing you do. It all adds up, and we know it’s going to be one of your biggest bills. So, think about conserving your water.

Fill the bowl up rather than letting the water run, limit your showers to 10 minutes, and try and only do one load of washing every two days. You should find that your water bills come nicely down.

Energy Saving Tactics

Electricity is going to be your last bill, and your family could really be affecting how much you pay.

Whilst you can control your own use, you can’t necessarily control what your children are doing. So, we advise that you limit TV and computer game times to a few hours a day, and focus on making sure they’re turning all the lights off if they’re not being used, and all of the plugs on standby.

It should help to bring it down, but education and creating the habit of turning things off when not in use is really the key.

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)

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Hi Tarah! I can’t teach you much, you are doing it all yourself! But for your readers who looked at this post and thought they couldn’t afford to do much, let me tell you about my double glazing experience. We bought this house 16 years ago, and it had UPVC double glazed windows which were fine. At some point a couple of years ago a few panels had “blown” – I mean they steamed up inside and so where not doing their job. We thought that, whilst we could still afford it, we had better have all our windows replaced, a big and expensive job. By a fluke we found a guy advertising in the local press, who did REPLACEMENT UNITS and offered a free quote. He came. He told us to leave the frames just where they were, they were good, solid frames and would last a very long time. He would replace the units only, which meant taking out the glass panels and inserting all new ones into the frames. WOW! for a much much cheaper costs, we found that as soon as winter arrived, the house was several degrees warmer without doing anything at all! New tempered glass works in a better way than the original, so we were quids in, as they say here. But of course there was a double saving……. because we turned the heating down by those few degrees and of course, saving a few pennies on the heating bills. You are running your heating too hot if you are wearing a Tshirt and shorts and there is show outside, guys! Now we are never cold, and it’s nice feeling when the bills get smaller.

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I’m Tarah!

There is nothing I love more then making something new and usable again that someone else would have thrown out or torn down. Find out more about me, how I renovated my Grandparents’ 100 year old house and how I am a total DIY fanatic by checking out The story behind Storyhardt Farm You can also find out more about the amazing Grandma behind this blog who moved in to this old farmhouse with my Grandpa nearly 70 years ago!

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